British Airways to close Hong Kong base, 85 cabin crew members made redundant

For economic reasons, British Airways has decided to close its Hong Kong base. 85 cabin crew members have received a – rather cold – letter to announce the end of their employment. Meanwhile the BA Hong Kong International Cabin Crew Association has called the lay-offs “inhumane and ugly“.

57 of the 85 Hong Kong based flight attendants were laid off with immediate effect, and 24 other at the end of next month. “Imagine that you are working for a multinational airline already for 31 years, and then suddenly you are fired. It’s a shameful!” the cabin crew association wrote on their Facebook page: “We can hardly believe what just happened, it hurts that the airline doesn’t show any emotion.”

British Airways explained to aviation24.be: “We have thanked colleagues for their hard work and dedication and told them that the cabin crew base at Hong Kong will be closing at the end of October.

The decision follows a detailed and thorough review of our global operation and we have promised our cabin crew based in Hong Kong our full support at this time.

We are confident we can continue to offer customers on this route the world-class service they deserve.”

Parts of the dismissal letter

“We regret to inform you that British Airways is closing the Hong Kong International cabin crew base. This was a difficult decision but based on commercial reasons it was unviable for us to continue to operate the base. We are therefore terminating your contract of employment with British Airways by reason of redundancy today with immediate effect. We will make a payments of wages in lieu of notice to effect the cessation of employment on the cessation date.

“Please can you kindly return to British Airways immediately all items belonging to British Airways and your British Airways ID card and office pass.”

“I wish to thank you for your contribution to British Airways during your service with the company and I wish you the best of luck in your future.“